Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju (born 26 January 1968), known professionally as Ravi Teja, is an Indian film actor and producer who mainly works in Telugu cinema. Known for his roles in action comedy films, he is popular by the moniker "Mass Maharaja". One of the highest-paid Telugu film actors, Teja has won three state Nandi Awards and one Filmfare Award South. He was featured by Forbes India in the list of top 100 Celebrities in 2012, 2013, and 2015. Teja started his film career with an uncredited role in Karthavyam (1990) and then played similar minor parts in films such as Allari Priyudu (1993), Ninne Pelladata (1996). Then he essayed meatier supporting roles in Sindhooram (1997), Manasichi Choodu (1998), Premaku Velayara (1999), Samudram (1999), Annayya (2000) among others and also worked as an assistant director for several films. Teja's first lead role came with Nee Kosam (1999), which was an average grosser at the box office but won him the Nandi Special Jury Award. He established himself as a leading actor with Itlu Sravani Subramanyam (2001), Avunu Valliddaru Ista Paddaru! (2002), and Idiot (2002). Teja then went on to star in notable films like Khadgam (2002), Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi (2003), Venky (2004), Naa Autograph (2004), Bhadra (2005), Vikramarkudu (2006), Dubai Seenu (2007), Krishna (2008), Neninthe (2008), Kick (2009), Sambho Siva Sambho (2010), Don Seenu (2010), Mirapakay (2011), Balupu (2013), Power (2014), Bengal Tiger (2015), Raja the Great (2017), Krack (2021), Dhamaka (2022) and Waltair Veerayya (2023). Ravi Teja is widely known for his comic timing. Early life Ravi Teja was born in Jaggampeta in the erstwhile East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. His father, Bhoopatiraju Rajagopal Raju was a pharmacist and his mother, Bhoopatiraju Rajya Lakshmi was a homemaker. Ravi Teja is the eldest of three sons, the others being Bharath and Raghu, who are also actors. He spent most of his childhood in Northern India because of his father's work. His schooling was done in Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bhopal. He was fascinated with cinema right from his childhood. He idolized Amitabh Bachchan and would re-enact scenes from his films at home. Later on he moved to Vijayawada along with his family. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Arts at Siddhartha Degree College, Vijayawada. He is fluent in both Telugu and Hindi. On May 26, 2002 Ravi Teja married Kalyani who hails from Ganapavaram, West Godavari District.